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Voltaire Vs. Hampson
Summary: Comparing Voltaire's "Candide" to Norman Hampson's "The Enlightenment" it is clear Voltaire and Hampson both follow the decline in attitudes of optimism throughout 18th century Europe through philosophizing about religion, the oppression of Monarchical societies, and the role that man should play in society. They agree that slavery was horrible, that man should be inherently benevolent, and that the question of a supreme being is still questionable
The enlightenment was a period in history where certain ways of thought were developed. There were doubts of the existence of a supreme being and belief in the natural order of things. "The stability of a divinely-created and unchanging order was challenged by a new conception of life as a constant and shapeless flux" (89). Norman Hampson analyzes many famous philosophical books of the time and overall feels that "Only two attitudes seemed to remain: to follow Hume in denying man's access to objective knowledge of any kind, or to accept d'Holbach's conception of a universe of matter in motion, in which everything happened out of necessity and the answer to every question was `because it cannot be otherwise'" (95). Again, the existence of God was thoroughly questioned as well as the reason for man to have morals. Science, philosophy, and theology all went hand-in-hand. Candide displayed this way of...
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This section contains 1,764 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page) |
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